The Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell ****

The Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell is 20/24 in the Kay Scarpetta series. Kay Scarpetta is a forensic pathologist. In this book, we have three women. Dr. Emma Shubert is a paleontologist who disappeared on a dig in Alberta Canada. Mildred Lott is the wife of billionaire Channing Lott with business interests in Alberta. He is on trial for her murder. There is no body. Peggy Stanton was found in the Boston harbor suspended by her neck with weights on her ankles. Kay believes all three are connected, but how?

This 500-page book is packed full of technical jargon. “No petechiae I can find…No irregular areas of hemorrhage to the sclera or the conjunctiva,” most of it unexplained. However, the technical stuff has little to do with solving the mystery. Some seem to be just filler: “He’ll take a look with the stereo microscope, the polarized light scope, the Raman spectrometer…same interference colors and same birefringence.”

But Peggy’s cat and Millie’s dog seem more important than all the hyper-technical forensic stuff. “The plastic ring on the floor.” I indicate what’s behind the umbrella stand. “A cat toy.” “No sign but appears there was one.”

The surprise hero of this book is Kay’s niece, Lucy Farinelli, a “rogue technical genius,” who performs hacker miracles while spouting the required technical jargon.

I hear you ask, “You sound so negative. Why?” When Kay gets close to unraveling the mystery, the killer confesses. In the end, when Kay is in serious jeopardy, she works hard to rescue herself, but just when she has her chance, deus ex machina steals her opportunity and rescues her. 

A page-turner with flaws. Terrific if you don’t think about it.

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